Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Many questions concerning polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) remain unsolved, such as the long term evolution of cardiovascular (CV) risk markers and the risk for CV events.Methods: A total of 119 PCOS patients diagnosed in 2009 by NIH criteria at our Unit were evaluated at baseline for cardiovascular risk markers (hypertension, diabetes mellitus-DM, dyslipidaemia, obesity, carotid intima media thickness-cIMT, and epicardial fat thickness-EFT) ...

Background and aim: Ovarian hyperandrogenism is a known cause of post-menopausal hirsutism and virilisation, more frequently of a benign nature (e.g. ovarian hyperthecosis, Leydig cell hyperplasia). Bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy delivers both definitive diagnostic and therapeutic results. However, after excluding the presence of a suspicious ovarian mass, the use of GnRH analogues (GnRH-a) offers a valuable therapeutic alternative with cases reporting a sustained response in...

Introduction: The adrenal morphology in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is poorly described in the literature, so that adrenal radiological evaluation is not recommended in patients with CAH. The aim of this study was to evaluate the adrenal morphology in a large cohort of adult patients with CAH due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency and its correlation with the subtype of CAH (non-classical-NCAH, simple virilizing-SV, or salt wasting-SW), the hormonal status and the treatment...

Objective: The aim of this study was to define which hormonal cut-off values can discriminate polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) from non classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-NCAH).Patients and methods: We included 70 women in reproductive age who attended our Unit from 2003 to 2018 for a diagnosis of PCOS with a basal 17hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP) level in the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle ≥200 ng/d...

Though LC-MS/MS is replacing immunoassays for major glucocorticoids and androgens routine assessment, the measurement of other sex steroids and precursors is still challenging and available only in experienced research laboratories. Our aim was to develop a simple-prep and rapid 2D-LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous measurement of estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and 17OHpregnenolone.Serum volumes of 300ul were spiked with intern...

Hyperandrogenic disorders cause psychological implication in young girls, limiting the quality of life. Salivary cortisol (SalF) testing was proved to be useful in the evaluations of acute stress responses. Aim of this study was to investigate SalF responses to a stressor event in late adolescent females. We selected 165 drug-free females aged 16–19 years from a cross-sectional epidemiological study. Saliva was collected in the morning before and after a stressor event co...

Turner syndrome (TS), one of the most frequent chromosomal aberrations in females, is characterized not only by structural abnormalities (somatic and congenital) but also by acquired comorbidities, such as metabolic disorders, cardiovascular alterations, autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, and malignancies. The prevalence of structural abnormalities that usually complicate TS at diagnosis is well known. However, the prevalence of acquired complications, that may appear at any a...

Introduction: Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are considered to have increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), even though the syndrome encompasses hugely varying phenotypes. Research into CVD prevention demonstrated a variety of biochemical and ultrasound (US) markers predicting risk in the general population, but those are sparsely utilised for PCOS, in part due to the patients’ therapeutic goals.Aim: To evaluate if PCOS type or...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has an early onset. However, its prevalence in the youngest age groups has not been assessed, mostly due to the poor specificity of the criteria for defining PCOS in adolescents, including the testosterone references generated only on adult women. Moreover, the current references for testosterone were mostly built by immunoassays, known to have poor accuracy. This study was aimed at defining androgen and pro-androgen reference intervals in 149 ...

The use of LC–MS/MS quantitative methods in clinical and research laboratories is becoming a well established reality that may overcome specificity and accuracy limits of immunoassays. Nevertheless, among different LC–MS/MS methods an agreement on the values that are to be considered normal or pathologic has not been reached yet, and this is mainly due to differences in LC–MS/MS methods, to the poor or absent availability of reference material and to the selecti...